Relief announced for kin of engineering students washed away in Beas

SHIMLA: Himachal government has announced an immediate relief of Rs 1.50 lakh to the next of kin of the engineering college students who were washed away in the Beas River on Sunday.

"We have announced a compensation of Rs 1.50 lakh to next of kin of each victim and also made arrangement for sending the bodies of the victims and also provided all possible help to the affected families", Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh told reporters.

He said that the Government has also urged the Union government to provide a NDRF battalion to Himachal to deal with natural calamities.

The Chief Minister said that an inquiry by Divisional Commissioner, Mandi has already been ordered into the accident and said all vulnerable points along river banks where power projects have constructed dams would be "fenced" so that the people did not go near these places. Sign boards with warning signals would also be displayed at these places.

The alarm systems would be made more effective and the people would be informed about the alarms so that they take necessary precautions and avoid taking risk, he added.

Twenty-five students of a Hyderabad-based engineering college, who were taking photographs on the bank of Beas, were washed away when the discharge of water in the river suddenly increased due to release of water from the reservoir of 126 MW Larji hydropower project.